Shadows of Your Mind
by Skylanthus
Summary: On the first challenge after being tossed into the mind game, Sarah has the perfect chance to kill Jareth...does she take it? *chapter 2 up!* read/review!!
1. I've never liked Chess

Disclaimer: Jareth, Sarah, Toby, Ludo, or any other characters familiar with the Labyrinth do not belong to me. They belong to Jim Henson and his team. I'm only taking them into my care for the duration of this story.  
  
Author's Note: This is my foray into the realm of the Labyrinth, I usually dally around in the Harry Potter section so bear with this J  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"The third wall has been taken!" the shout, barely heard, floated over the roar of battle. It mingled with screams of the dying and the laughter, the maniacal laughter of the ones still alive enough to fight. Clashing of steel and sickening crunching of bodies echoed endlessly through the abandoned city and caressed over the outer walls of the once proud castle. The war had been raging for a fortnight now, and the toil was starting to tear away at the stone, to erode the walls built so carefully eons before.  
  
High above the field of death, sheltered by thick walls of rock and iron, one man stood at the arched window of the main tower watching with a trained eye the movements down below. His left eye scanned enemy formations and troops while his right vigilantly watched his own dwindling number. The Labyrinth had finally rebelled against his rule, allowing once banned enemy armies to easily march to his front without so much as a knock. After a millennia of obedience, one girl, not an epic battle, not a clash of powerful mages, not even a subtle assassination, but a simple teenaged Aboveground mortal girl had started the cataclysmic chain of events leading to this precise moment in time as he hovered over the rolling froth of bloodshed.  
  
The moment of his downfall.  
  
Turning away from the inevitable loss, Jareth, King of the Goblins and Ruler of the Labyrinth glared silently at the elegant carved mahogany door across from him and the encryption over the entrance. Written in the forgotten language of the Arcane Mages the words had comforted him in the many trials he had faced here before but now, as the final grains of sand that governed the span of his empire trickled through the hourglass, they brought little hope or faith to his psyche.  
  
"Thirteen hundred strong, Raoul, you think too little of me now." his voice came out softer then a breath of air. "Of course, being the only one to lose his entire empire because of a mortal woman, why should you respect me any longer? Why should you not deny yourself the chance to ridicule and humble me moments before the iron closes on me." with each syllable his voice rose in volume and a tone of cynical bitterness crept into the words. "You of the Endless Night!" he shouted, tossing the crystal he had been toying with at the door and smiled with grim pleasure as glass shattered.  
  
Twenty years ago this would never occurred even in the blackest of his dreams. Twenty years ago *he* had been the strongest of the seven brothers of Uld. He, the youngest and yet the wisest. He, the fairest and the cruelest. Upon the murder of their father a million years ago, the kingdom had been divided into seven portions, each brother receiving the land that most fitted him. Jareth, being connected with riddles, puzzles, and illusion had taken control of the Labyrinth, the land closest to the hazy border between the Aboveground and the Underground. There, as his castle was built and the Labyrinth birthed out of a few twist and dead ends he toyed with the minds of humanity at his pleasure. Bringing down the downfall of several kingships and starting a fair amount of wars, Jareth had grown cocky in his place and this new feeling of defeat unnerved him. Never had he worried if he would see the sun rise the next day. Never had he doubted the prowess of his own abilities.  
  
But then again, his mind whispered, twenty years ago when he was primed he had not made the mistake of letting a mortal girl seize him in her grip. Sarah Pernix, with her steely attitude and resolve. She had achieved what most of the immortal Fae could never.  
  
She had slipped past his defenses and destroyed him from the inside.  
  
Her, with the refined hair of dusky twilight and eyes like a changeling, ever sporting a new shade of hazel, and carrying creamy skin that could rival Luna's own. Jareth broke off the memory and bit his lip just enough to banish her image from his mind. It was pitiful really, that he was reduced to carrying a fancy for this girl but it had started so suddenly and by the time he had caught it in all its guises, it had tangled him in the gossamer strands of its web.  
  
She never realized that he had spoken the truth at the final confrontation. All he promised he would have upheld. She would have gotten everything she wanted if she had just allowed him to win, to become her slave, her friend, her lover-- Jareth snarled and drove the points of his teeth into his bottom lip and willed himself to feel pain as the blood beaded. Punishment for his thoughts..  
  
His eye had never strayed over the endless line of immortal women vying for his affections and nor should it skim over the curves of a young.oh what was the use? His castle was falling, his army was dying, and his proud kingdom was crumbling, what was the worst that a dream could do?  
  
As the tower shuddered from another catapult assault, he leaned against the cool stone and closed his eyes, drifting into a world where a certain mortal smiled at him and returned the affections he had once bestowed on her unwittingly. ~*~*~*~  
  
"Mother, you've been staring at the mirror for the past half hour, I don't think you can get any more beautiful," leaping the few feet from the door to the queen-sized bed, Raven Pernix grinned impishly at her mother and rolled over on her back to gaze upwards at the older woman perched at the vanity.  
  
Sarah blinked out of her trance and glanced sideways at her daughter, a tender smile flitting over her lips before fading into concern. "What on Earth are you wearing?"  
  
Without a flicker of a glance to her apparel, Raven shrugged and tugged on a strand of her hair, similar in gloss to her mother's ebony shade. "It's nothing, just something for a party tonight."  
  
"A party? Wearing that?" an well-shaped eyebrow rose into a hairline as Sarah's eye ran a critical look over. Dark jeans fitted to her daughter like a second skin while a form fitting white tee with a skimpy black halter just over that were the only fabric between her daughter and the outside world. Knee-high boots, dozens of bracelets and a heavy application of make-up made Raven look less like the sweet daughter who still cried with joy at the end of fairy-tales to another young woman striving to find her place in the world. "Who's all going to be there?"  
  
"Just the Girl Gang, you know Rebecca's mom will never allow any boys in her house with dancing going on." Raven picked up a magazine with Sarah's face on the cover and skimmed through it. "When's your next book going to be done?"  
  
"When it's done. What time will you be home?"  
  
"Maybe one?"--Her mother's look made Raven rethink that--"Oh, okay, eleven- thirty?"  
  
"She's dropping you off?" Sarah turned back to the mirror and picked up a brush.  
  
"I'm driving."  
  
"No drinking then, I know you teenagers, I was one once, you know." the brush fell onto her hair once, twice and then stopped, returning to rest in its usual place on the desk.  
  
"Don't shock me Mom, and I won't drink, I promise." Raven hopped up, full of energy and landed a kiss on her mother's cheek before hurrying out the door.  
  
Watching her leave and hearing the door snick shut, Sarah released a sigh she didn't know she had held. Turning to the old mirror for the third time, she opened her mouth to speak and then closed it again, feeling foolish for wanting to ask advice of old friends. Almost daring to hope that once again, like the many times in her years where magic had been as real as the breath she took, Hoggle, Sir Didymus, and Ludo would appear behind her in the reflective glass and be with her again.  
  
"You still dream too much Sarah," she mouthed to herself, "That was merely a fantasy, played out by your young mind." the words hurt, as they did every time she spoke them, but they helped her go on. Helped her get past the painful time where her mother's leaving and fathers sudden new marriage had tore at her impressionable mind. Believing she had been abandoned she had fallen deeper into the realm of the Fae, where everything was as she wanted it to be, full force, to help keep the monster called suicide at bay.  
  
After her adventure.or was it a dream? Well, after her plight in the labyrinth, fighting off the Goblin king and winning back her brother, she had slowly returned to the world, letting go of old childish forms of play. She got more involved at school, found a boyfriend, brought her grades up, and gained more realistic hobbies and obsessions.  
  
Of course, she had never severed all ties with the world of make-believe, but after becoming a successful writer the line between the imaginary and reality had become fixed in her mind, no longer was it so easy to picture the rusty coloration of Ludo's fur or the high pealed laughter of Sir Didymus as he danced a lively jig around her room. Even the unique face of Hoggle with its lines and creases was now a foggy memory that haunted the deepest places of her dreams.  
  
Like her daughter behaved now.  
  
Like her mother, Raven was in love with all things Fae and mythic. Her room was filled with books of fairytales and myths, her walls were decorated with the posters Sarah once had in her childhood room, next to the newer posters that Raven had seen fit to put up. Her closet, full to the brim with Sarah's old clothes was now bursting at the hinges from the sack-fulls that Raven had accumulated over the years. Princess dresses, ball gowns, pirate costumes , breeches, swords, skirts, scarves, anything a dreamer could dream was shoved into every nook and cranny of that portal.  
  
Giggling behind her.  
  
A snort hidden beneath the mirror, a chuckle from the closet to her left.  
  
The unexpected noises stopped her inner monologue and sharply jerked her awareness back to the present time. She stared hard into the mirror, her gaze hard enough to shatter the glass if it were possible.  
  
Movement, a skittering of claws down the bed curtain, her focus swung to the edge of her vision, trying to catch the culprits without letting them know she was there--another scuffle! This time, it clanged in the bathroom to her right. The light flickered, keeping time with the growing pace she was taking breaths. Another snort of laughter, snuffed out by a high squeal and a muffled fight.  
  
Her mind fell back into the time, twenty years ago, when, as a bitter cynical, "oh, how the world's against me", seventeen year old, she accidentally wished her brother away forever to the hands of the goblins. The old forgotten fear returned, seizing her legs in its' deathly vice-like grip. A shiver peeled down her spine, exciting each nerve ending and she could feel the pounding of blood pour and echo through her ears. The noises continued, growing louder and louder, the movements just out of her sight pressed on, and the fear grew, all built to a climax where her mind seemed to cave in, absorbing too much and too soon. They were after her again, after her brother, after Toby..oh God where was Toby? He wasn't crying! He wasn't making a sound, they got him, HE got him, got his filthy claws into Toby's precious skin.  
  
"Enough." the word passed from her lips so suddenly that it hardly registered to her.  
  
The deafening sound disappeared and transitioned into a eerie silence, where all that reached the shell of her earlobe was the irregular, labored breaths she took and the frantic pounding of her heart as it thundered against her chest.  
  
All movement ceased and her eyes made out several different species of goblins frozen in areas behind her. Three perched on her bed, two hung from the now opened closet door, and four strategically balanced somewhere on her dresser and one hid under her night table. She couldn't make out who was in the bathroom but gambled at least two more were hidden somewhere in the patches of bright light.  
  
"Enough?" the voice spooked her and the calm her body had tried to achieve was instantly lost.  
  
Turning, expecting to see the cocky smile, the high fashioned clothing, the piercing gaze, the regal stature of him, the Goblin King who had changed the course of her life years before.  
  
"Surprised?" the cruel sneer got to her the most, the pale lips pulled back to expose even whiter rows of jagged fangs. Eyes the shade of scarlet peered at her from beneath the odd shaped brows that she clearly recalled in her dreams. His clothes aired an essence of nobility and it showed in the way he eyed her, a simple bug in his path. "I thought you would be, after all how many humans," he spat the word like it was filth, "have had the opportunity to place their gaze on me."  
  
Staring at him, it took a few moments for her mind to click into action and her face hardened, taking on the defiance it held when she had faced another much like him. "Shall I bow and grovel now?"  
  
"By the Gods no!" appalled, he rose and neared her, his smirk turning into a malicious grin as she scooted backward on the stool. "I hate whimpering, flirtatious females." his hand reached up and the backside drifted down the curve of her cheek. "I prefer ones who offer a challenge, ones who.excite the blood." he stopped his touch and looked at her more closely. "Ones like you."  
  
"Get away from me." Sarah spat, jerking her head away from his icy touch. Her hand fumbled behind, grabbing for the brush. The cool wood reassured her and with the hopeful weapon hidden behind her she faced down the second intruder from the Underground.  
  
"You prove my point." the man stepped back and then held out a hand in apology. "Forgive me, I have not told you who I am."  
  
"Someone who's not welcome," Sarah hissed, edging to her feet and standing as tall as being five foot five would allow her.  
  
"Temper, temper!" the goblins behind him cackled and fell silent only when Sarah glared at each and every one in turn. They stared back sullen and then snorted as her attention returned to the smirking Fae.  
  
"Can I at least get your name? And what challenge must I do now? Brave the Labyrinth again? What?"  
  
"The name, my dear dove, is Raoul. I am Emperor of the Endless Night and I have come here to make a request of you." his eyes darkened and he took a step towards her, his voice lowering. "I want you to kill Jareth for me."  
  
Sarah's eyes widen and she made to speak when a finger touched her lip. "You do think high enough of me that I would at least come up with a bargaining chip, as you mortals deem it." with a snap of his fingers, he revealed it.  
  
"Mom!" Raven shouted, her chained hands bound to three large goblins, all who which had an hungry eye on her.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"So, a deal is it?" Jareth sneered, staring at the two before him. The brother that he had always hated and the girl, no, woman he now secretly loved. "I must travel through your realm, with her at my side why?"  
  
"To amuse me. The girl that destroyed this labyrinth in the first place will now be a tool to help rebuild it." Raoul chuckled, holding a rune out to Jareth. "Once you take this, the trials begin. Both of you must make it back here alive. And together, so no leaving her out in the cold my dear brother."  
  
Jareth eyed the blue stone with caution and then glanced to Sarah, her body language telling that there was something else afoot. "What the Hell, I have nothing better to do, now don't I? What if I fail?"  
  
:You should pray that doesn't happen. If you fail, it means you have died and will never see this room again."  
  
Gritting his teeth, Jareth ran the pro's and con's through his mind. On one hand, his people would be spared from war and he would be by Sarah, albeit for a short while, on the other hand.Raoul would be in charge and the Gods and Higher Ones know what havoc would become of it. "Very well.let it begin then." with a confident laugh, Jareth snatched the stone and held it high.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Author's Note: Yes, the end was rushed but that's how it was supposed to be. The agreement was to be showed as rushed and fragile to show the desperate feelings all players hid from the others. The less time in agreement, the less chance you give a clue away. 


	2. Shall you fall feet first or head first?

Disclaimer: You folk get the drill. Not mine, wish they were, yadda yadda yadda.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Whack!  
  
The steel disappeared into the arm-thick vine. "I cannot believe this." she pulled the blade out and swung again, hacking further and further into the barrier covered by the plant life. As she tugged the blade out again, a small chunk of the vine came with it and smacking against her cheek, leaving a stinging reminder. "I really cannot believe this!"  
  
Whack!  
  
"Are you going to say that all day?" the exasperated voice called from behind her.  
  
Stopping her routine of curse, swing, hit, and tug out, Sarah turned and while she wiped the sweat in her eyes away with the back of her sword hand she sent a scathing glare to the man leaning against the far dirt wall. "I don't see you here working."  
  
"What does that have to with your whining?" Jareth retorted, flicking a speck off his breeches. He had been watching her hack away for the past ten minutes at the meter thick barrier of vines. She had tied her hair back into a pony-tail at the base of her neck and had removed her outer sweatshirt a few minutes earlier.  
  
"I was not whining--" she cut off, preventing herself from creating the third argument of the day. They had only been in the challenge for an hour or so and already Sarah was wishing she had never wished her brother away those many years ago. "Look ,I'm the one working here trying to get us out of this filthy trench back home and back to your stupid kingdom. I think I'm entitled to some complaining about my condition. I didn't even ask to be sent back here!"  
  
"Those swords are pure iron." Jareth mentioned after a beat.  
  
Sarah cast a glance to their gear and at the second sword, similar to the one she held. Three feet long, not including the hilt, with a trailing engraving circling the blade. Runes were carved into the hilt itself and the very bottom was dusted in gold. Underneath were their other meager divisions. A few days supply of food, three water skins and a pair of sleeping mats. Flint and cloaks summed it up. Sarah again cursed whatever fate that had thrown her back into this mix. "So?" she returned to the current conversation. "They won't bite."  
  
Jareth waited another beat before coughing and flicking his gaze between her and the sword in her hand. "Do you recall what I am by any chance? Or did that fade away as your human memories tend to do?"  
  
Sarah growled underneath her breath and mentally calmed down before replying. "Your.Fae, I think. Though how, I don't see."  
  
"Don't see? Well, I'll touch upon that later. But, what, my fair mortal, is one thing that can kill a Fae if left in prolonged contact?"  
  
Sarah felt the heat rise into her cheeks as he spoke and then looked to the sword residing on the ground. "Oh.iron."  
  
"Yes, that. And steel. So I can't touch those things to help you chop, or I would."  
  
"I'm sure." Sarah began to turn back to her task and then spotted a glint of metal at his side. It was his dagger, silver, if she remembered correctly as Raoul gave out supplies and asked for what they had on them already. "Well, then use your dagger."  
  
Jareth glanced to his dagger and smirked before unsheathing it and walking up beside her. "My apologies," he ended up a few inches from her and paused to reflect on how her hair caught the dim light perfectly. "it's not fair that you do all the labor, now is it Sarah?"  
  
"Get away from me." she whispered vehemently, jerking to the side and focusing intently on her work.  
  
Holding his hands up in mock surrender, he stepped back a few paces. "I thought you wanted my help."  
  
"Yes, you can help by chopping those vines that are on the far side."  
  
"As you wish." Jareth went to where she had pointed. The two feel into an uneasy silence that was broken only by an occasional curse or the thunk of a vine portion hitting the ground. Minutes passed into an hour before they could consider themselves half-way through the barrier. "What did Raoul deal with you?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Why you're here. What did Raoul promise you that made you waltz back into the Underground. Last I recall, you wanted nothing more to do with us."  
  
"Not true, I kept in great contact with Sir Didymus and Ludo and Hoggle."  
  
"Ah yes. I know. I remember them sneaking out of the Underground every so often. But, you never answered my question." He reached out and tugged one of the vines out from its rocky root-placement and then tossed it violently onto the ground next to the growing ankle-deep pile of already severed vines. "Was it another crystal full of endless hopes and dreams?"  
  
"I don't believe I have to answer this."  
  
"It's merely a question. Nothing more, nothing less." Jareth retorted. "I'm just curious on why you're here. Raoul does love his games. Sometimes I wonder why he did not seize the labyrinth for his own."  
  
"Maybe he would understand a harried teenagers plight and forgive a mistake."  
  
"I only did what you requested of me. You wanted your brother to be whisked away to my care, I did that. And what was the gratitude I receive? My kingdom's downfall. It even might be said that I got the unfair share in our little game." Jareth snapped, his unusual eyes flashing with unchecked anger and he swung into the barrier with a renewed force.  
  
Sarah stood there and watched the Goblin King work, her eyes involuntary roaming over the rippling of the muscles barely shown through the poets shirt sleeves. Suddenly the idea of being as annoying as she was while she was there the first time become less appealing. Her head bowed for a moment, then she chopped the barrier. "I didn't ask to come back to the Underground." Jareths ears perked but after a millennia with noble women he had learned a thing or two about that strange species, he remained quiet, allowing her the floor. "He had taken my daughter of his own accord and...he swore he would kill her if I didn't take part. You must believe me when I say I had no part in this whole charade."  
  
"So, you go through this challenge with me and he'll return your daughter?" Jareth summed, his hacking motions slowed as his mind wheeled over the possible reasons of his brother. "But why?" his eyes flashed again, this time in revelation. "Ah yes, of course." he turned their piercing gaze onto her and she froze for a moment, fearing her deal found out. "Amusement. You can hardly survive a simple journey into a labyrinth, how on earth can you survive through an entire realm."  
  
Sarah felt her breath relax at that and she brought herself up to her full height before snapping back. "I'll have you know, I'm not that seventeen year old who wandered into your grasp anymore. I'm older *and* I'm wiser."  
  
"Yes," he gave her a sideways glance, looking her over. "yes, you are older, aren't you."  
  
She shivered under that gaze and quickly went to her sword to shake off the feeling that crawled through her now. "She's the age I was when I first met you."  
  
"Who?" he stared blankly until his mind clicked. "Ah, yes, your daughter. What did you name her?"  
  
"Raven," Sarah spoke in that proud tone only a mother could make. "Thankfully she resembles me more than her father."  
  
"And why isn't he fighting for her life alongside your side. If a child of mine was placed in Raven' predicament, I'd fight to the last drop of blood in my body. Even with an iron blade at my throat."  
  
"Well, I don't think Michael would share your sentiments."  
  
"And why not?" Jareth turned to her, all his attention on this conversation, the dagger hanging idly in his fingers.  
  
"He left us when she was thirteen. The reason? He's an actor on Broadway and well, he took the act with one of his co-stars off-stage. He's had nothing to do with me or Raven since then. Shattered her heart, the poor thing. He was her world at times."  
  
"That's another thing with you humans. You don't understand the meaning of eternal true love." Jareth muttered, setting his dagger aside and tackling the plants bare-handed.  
  
"There's no such thing. It only exists in fairytales."  
  
"That is not true. Once any soul finds their other half, they are complete and hence true love."  
  
"Well, Michael wasn't my other half."  
  
"Then why in the grace of the Gods Above and Below did you marry?" the mood died as those words left his mouth. He fell silent and implored her with his eyes to explain this ridiculous human custom.  
  
"...we're through." Sarah mumbled, her pulse fast from the work and from anger. Without any further comments or sounds she turned and grabbed her portion of the supplies and slipped the packing onto her back, wincing at the weight. She brushed past him and begun to work a manageable hole through which they could pass.  
  
Jareth, knowing he had stepped out of line, repeated her gestures, helping her with the task. They worked in tangent until an opening of four feet by four feet presented itself, barely viewable through the mulch of vines. Jareth thanked his patron Gods that the vines held no thorns and eased his lean body inside.  
  
Once in, he peered into the black and reached blindly for a wall. Before Sarah could work her way in he poked his head out. "We need sticks or something so that we can light torches."  
  
Sarah nodded and disappeared from his view. He heard her outside and after a few minutes she reappeared with two good sized sticks. "Now what?"  
  
"Wet them, use equal amounts from each water skin." he heard the splashing of water. "Now, take the rag that wrapped the second sword and tear it into two pieces."  
  
"Okay."  
  
"Hand the sticks and the rags to me." she did so and with an experienced air, he firmly tied and wrapped the rags onto the sticks. "Now all I need is fire."  
  
"Here," a small packet was thrust at him and he barely prevented it from falling onto the damp floor. "Wait for me before you use it."  
  
She clambered, tossing in her pack before her and soon she righted next to him and held out her hand for the small package. He gave it and she opened it to tear off a small twig with a reddish bulb at one end.  
  
"What is that?"  
  
"This, my Fae friend, is a match. A marvelous human invention...unfortunately I have one pack, but it will do." she lighted the match and with a small exclamation of joy, lighted each of the two rags until they had torches.  
  
Jareth watched as she tucked the matchbox back into her pocket and handed her a torch. "I'd never thought I'd be impressed with a human invention."  
  
"You don't have matches?"  
  
"My dear, with my powers, all I need is to think of a fire and I'll have one." Jareth stated and strode forward, brandishing his torch like a weapon. "Stay close, we have no idea if this is a dead-end, a trap, or a way out. It might even lead deeper into this trench, which is not good for then you have trolls, orcs, Juttils." he stopped when she cut in.  
  
"Did anyone ever tell you that you're a pessimist?"  
  
"I prefer to consider myself realistic. My brother would not give us this easy of a chance at any given moment. We are lucky that the game did not start us being surrounded by a horde of Dezarians looking for their next meal.."  
  
"Oh." Sarah looked away and took in their underground surroundings. The tunnel was six foot at the opening by the vines and then narrowed slightly as it wound deeper into the hillside. From what she could see, it didn't branch off. The walls shimmered with an eerie quality as the firelight from the torches refracted onto them and deep in the darkness a endless drip was faintly heard.  
  
"You coming? This was your idea after all." he was ahead of her by a few feet and all she saw was his back, half shrouded in shadow. His shoulders were squared and the places where his vest had been resting against the outside wall was dusty and slightly tattered. The once fine material could no longer be associated with nobility and she smiled to herself at this small step downward for Jareth in her mind. "Well?"  
  
"Yeah," Sarah shook herself. Reaching his side, she craned her neck to look beyond him. "I hope this is safe."  
  
"And you say I'm the pessimist."  
  
Shooting his back a dirty look, Sarah decided to keep the sudden growth of dread that was spreading in her stomach to herself and shifted her packs weight. "I kept the other sword out there."  
  
"Good, less chance of it coming into contact with me." he said, taking some more steps. "Stay close, even though my brothers realm doesn't have the goblins that my does, this realm is home to nastier creatures. All that you humans have dreamed up appear here. That's one reason why Raoul's land are considered everchangable."  
  
"Any other information you have of your brother's lands?"  
  
"No, unfortunately, we tend to keep secrets from each-other. It's a rival realm kingdom sort of thing, you wouldn't understand." his torch flickered softly as he made his way into the tunnel. "We don't have all day, I suggest we get moving before nightfall. The Gods know what we might run into."  
  
"Hey, you didn't come up with a better plan, don't pick mine to pieces."  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"Okay, now you can pick my plan to pieces," clutching her ankle, Sarah winced and tenderly tilted her head to the side to view the injury by better light.  
  
"I told you earlier." he gently pried her hands from her ankle and then prodded the now discolored skin.  
  
"I hope you didn't break it"--Sarah smiled through the searing pain at his caring-- "Because that slows us down a good month or so."  
  
"And you call yourself charming?" biting her lip she shifted to stand. Bracing herself against the wall, she lowered her foot gingerly onto the floor and yelped. "Ow!"  
  
"It's nothing more than a bad sprain, you're lucky the cave in didn't catch more of you." Jareth also rose, brushing the excess dirt off his breeches. Now we will have to go up. I suddenly don't like the look of this trench."  
  
"And when did that thought form in your brain?"  
  
"About the time I spotted those remains on the other side of this new rock wall."  
  
Sarah jerked her head to glare at the boulders and growled under her breath. "Maybe this had happened before--"  
  
"They were charred. Which means in this realm 'Dragon'"  
  
"Dragon?" her heart skipping a beat, Sarah whipped her neck back to eye Jareth.  
  
"Yes, and by the tunnels, I'm thinking a Werkin female, they're the only known tunnelers to breach out onto the surface. Males locate their systems more around goblin colonies and the like, preferring to snatch and grab. Females on the other hand."  
  
"Like to lure in their prey." Sarah groaned, "Damn it. We're in a trap."  
  
"Not precisely. If I'm right in assuming that this is the work of a Werkin female, then she's not noticed us by now."  
  
"Oh?" searching around for a large stick of any kind, Sarah decided to keep the expression she held hidden. "And what makes you so sure."  
  
"The state of the tunnel for one thing. Overgrown at the entrance and now unstable, she's lacked interest in this area for a while." he snuffed his torch and handed her the stick. "Here, it's a good size, you can walk with it."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"Of course, with that cave-in, she's bound to come around here on her next patrol."  
  
"Oh lovely,"  
  
"So, hurry up." they started for the opening, a good hour walk without injury.  
  
"You could be more gentle with your words, you know." Sarah mentioned after a few minutes of her hobbling and his scoffing.  
  
"And what would be the point? You don't need to be babied, you said it yourself, you're an adult now." he returned, grabbing her arm as she stumbled over a hidden rock. After her balance returned, he let go and side- stepped away.  
  
"Yes, but when I'm in pain I don't enjoy having you talk like that. I know I'm a liability right now, I don't need you reassuring that thought over and over again."  
  
"You believe you're a liability?" he had waited a beat before speaking.  
  
She sighed, pleased that they were heading somewhere away from the bickering. "Yes, I do. With me being injured in a dragon's lair, why wouldn't I?"  
  
"Good then, I won't have to remind you every so often after you complain."  
  
"If you ever wonder why you're single, experience yourself from another's stand point and you'll get the reason." she snapped, stumbling again with her lack on concentration and twisting the ankle even more. The pain blinded her for a moment, she wavered and then fell, expecting the rocky floor with open arms.  
  
But her fall's destination wasn't the floor, it was a pair of arms braced against a chest to support her. As the pain receded from her mind and she could open her eyes again without a firewall behind the lids she blinked up at the closeness of Jareth, his eyes holding relief as their current emotion before he blinked slow and the emotion was lost. When he opened his eyes again, it was the usual amusement and haughtiness she had learned to associate with him.  
  
"I suggest we save the arguments until after we're out of here. I don't wish to become a meal, do you?"  
  
"Right." Sarah twisted and righted herself, a blush tinting her cheeks rose. "Truce?"  
  
"If we must, but only until you're well enough to fight without hurting yourself physically in the process."  
  
"It's a deal then," Sarah held out her right hand, he, his left, and they both grasped as tightly as they could, both wondering how much the other could take. After a beat, they broke off and then he continued to help her limp out into the trench proper.  
  
As they neared the opening, a rhythmic pounding and drone reached their ears. "Oh, wonderful."  
  
Outside, rain poured from the skies, flooding the trench. Water was already seeping into the cavern and the pair exchanged a glance. "Now what?"  
  
"We go up." Jareth stated, striding into the driving rain, pulling her along. "Was there rope in that pack?"  
  
Sarah gave his a once over and then shimmied hers onto the muddy ground to check. There was none. She gave the negative and he blinked, his mind racing like clockwork to figure out their next move. The rain continued to hammer down even as his eyes locked onto the vines slowly being drowned.  
  
"There." he gestured, scooping some up himself and rapidly tying knots, the water level already at his ankles. "Start tying them together."  
  
They worked furiously, groping under the thick layer of mud for the severed vines. Already they had two good ropes, now, all they needed was the harness for Sarah and everything would be complete. Sarah blessed the days her mother had forced Girl Scouts on her.  
  
"Here!" she shouted, tossing him the final pieces.  
  
"Alright." with a grimace, Jareth sunk his hand back into the mud and then, with a mixture of triumph and pain, he pulled out the discarded sword from earlier and wrapped it in the leftover torch rags. He tied the vines to the iron blade's hilt and then, taking a step away from Sarah, swung the weighted anchor and let it loose. It flew high and arced, slamming into the hidden ground above. He gave it one sharp test pull and then nodded, shouldering the other makeshift rope and tossing the harness back to her.  
  
As he rose, he turned to eye her in the rising mud. "I'm going to find a better secured area for me to pull you up with. Get that harness on and wait for me."  
  
"I don't need a harness!" Sarah protested.  
  
"You can hardly walk, how can you climb?" Already halfway up the steep incline, he turned to toss a grin at her. "Trust me, alright? My job is to see you safe, and that's what I'm doing."  
  
Sarah snarled a wordless protest and slipped herself into the harness, the vines scratching the skin they held contact with. Slapping watery strands of hair away from her eyes, she cocked her head upwards to watch his progress. For a king who seemed spoiled when she was younger he certainly knew his way around the wilderness. Her heart dropped for a moment. That conclusion would dampen her hope of getting rid of him by an 'accidental' natural cause.  
  
Of course she didn't *want* to kill Jareth, she never wanted to kill anyone, but her daughter was all she had and her daughter was now on the line. She had known as soon as Raven had peered up at her with her vortex swirling gray eyes after the doctors had cleaned her that Raven would be number one in all aspects of her life. Besides, her mind tried to rationalize, Jareth was a cruel tyrant, his death wouldn't be that much of a disaster.  
  
Thump. The sound tore her out of her thoughts. The second vine rope had fallen on her head and she glared upwards at where she thought Jareth to be standing. She tied it to the harness hooked around her waist and then emitted a sharp gasp as her feet left the ground and her body tugged downwards.  
  
"Do you think you could warn me first?"  
  
"Warn you?" she could have sworn his eyes twinkled with amusement, as she was slowly inched higher and higher. "My dear Sarah, where on earth would the pleasure be in that."  
  
Sarah made to comment but kept her mouth shut, deciding only to toss a glare his way. As she reached the top, she stretched out her arm to seize the branch that held the rope and pulley system together.  
  
"It's muddy here so, watch your step." Jareth warned, leaning out to help her.  
  
He never should have.  
  
As Sarah grabbed the branch, a terrible shudder rocked the canyon and one of the most horrific sounds seemed to have shot out from below. Looking on in terror, she watched as, in the matter of a few seconds, Jareth lost his precarious balance on the slope and tumbled past her into the ravine below and onto that iron sword left coincidentally sticking out of the knee-deep mud.  
  
~*~  
  
(A/N): Yes, I know, it's a terrible cliffhanger. I'm cruel but hey, what can one do? I'm sorry to those who have waited so long for this update. I moved in March and just now got the chance to get online again. So, here's the second chapter up and the third won't take as long, I promise. 


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